Rutgers lands one of its best football recruiting classes ever

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerRutgers football coach Greg Schiano has landed three of New Jersey's top four prospects, according to Rivals.com: No. 1 Savon. Huggins, No. 3 Miles Shuler and No. 4 Marquise Wright.

Tom Lemming has seen it happen before — but usually only at the programs he refers to as the “super 16” football schools.

Despite a 4-8 season — the worst showing since coach Greg Schiano turned Rutgers into a consistent bowl qualifier — the Scarlet Knights unveiled one of the program’s best recruiting classes on national letter of intent signing day today.

Lemming, who oversees MaxPreps and serves as the recruiting expert for CBS Sportsline, has the 24-player class rated 30th nationally and No. 1 in the Big East. Allen Wallace of SuperPrep and Scout.com checks in with the same rankings on both fronts, while Rivals.com has the group 32nd overall but second in the league.

“If you’re one of the super 16 schools, like Georgia did this year, you might be able to come in with a good class off a bad season,” Lemming said. “But it’s much more difficult for a school like Rutgers to do that. It’s a testament to Greg Schiano’s recruiting ability.”

Mike Farrell of Rivals.com said “it’s definitely unusual” for a program that isn’t a regular in the Top 25 rankings to have a talent haul like Rutgers’ off a poor season.

“We have them No. 2 in the Big East and 32nd in the country — and they’re coming off a 4-8 season,” Farrell said. “If I’m Penn State or Syracuse or UConn or Boston College, I’m looking around and saying ‘how did they do this?’ because they’re ranked ahead of all of those programs.”

“To be honest with Savon that was his only reservation. When he made his list and checked things off he was concerned because he wants to win,” said St. Peter’s Prep coach Rich Hansen. “So it’s a little of a leap of faith but there’s a trust factor involved. He trusts Greg and his staff are going to get it done.

“That trust overcame the fear of losing.”

Schiano’s 11th recruiting class had two obvious themes: It is speed-filled, with a strong New Jersey flavor. Rutgers landed three of the state’s top four prospects, according to Rivals.com (No. 1 Huggins, No. 3 Miles Shuler and No. 4 Marquise Wright) and eight of the state’s top 18 prospects, while adding two players (quarterback Gary Nova and running back Paul Canevari) from national powerhouse Don Bosco Prep.

Schiano said he wasn’t surprised by the strong showing on the recruiting front off the rough fall.

“Not really, because so much of the relationships that are going to land you a prospect or not are developed over years,” he said. “In a year when you don’t have a great year on-field results-wise, I think those relationships carry you through. This class, this group of kids, we happen to have a very good relationship with.”

With five early enrollees, Schiano said he believes the class is complete, adding “you never know. There’s always opportunity out there.”

With the exception of the offensive line (only three recruits there to shore up the unit) Schiano and his staff appeared to fill most of their needs.

“It’s a big deal for them to bring in Huggins, the best player in the state and a SuperPrep Elite 50 player,” said Wallace. “They wound up with four of our SuperPrep All-Americans — Huggins, Nova, Shuler and (LB) Quentin Gause. It shows people have confidence in Greg Schiano despite the one bad season.”